Video games are fun. There are no questions about it, and they will only continue to improve as time goes by. The one problem with video games, however, is the fact that more and more kids are passing up physical outdoor activities and instead spending hours on end in front of their television sets, smartphones and tablets.
Thanks to one father, named Mark Ladd, and his company, LyteShot, this may be about to change. Ladd was tired of seeing his kids stuck to their phones and tablets, and wanted to conceive of a way that he could get them out of the house and also connect with them in a fun way.
“I wanted to come up with a way to integrate the digital gaming experience, to get them to head outside and once again engage their imagination,” says Ladd.
So he and co-founder Tom Ketola came up with a new type of mobile gaming system which also happens to utilize 3D printing for the customization of peripherals, and they are currently trying to raise funding via Kickstarter. LyteShot provides for a real-world gaming experience, where gamers actually interact with one another on a physical level.
The LyteGun
Gamers are equipped with two devices, a Lyter (the weapon), and the LytePuck, which is a sensor. The sensor acts as a target of sorts, receiving a signal from the Lyter when a player is hit, and alerting the players via a light and vibration mechanism. The Lyter acts as the base for adding on peripherals to turn it into a gun, knife, sword, or virtually anything you can think of. The company is also making it so that these peripherals can be 3D printed on virtually any 3D printer. Backers of the Kickstarter campaign may choose a backer level that comes with the .STL files for 3 of these 3D printable peripherals, and developers and gamers themselves may also design and 3D print their very own.
The LyteDagger
Currently LyteShot is working on completing a game called Assassin, but they are also welcoming other developers to join in and develop more games. It should be interesting to see what comes about with LyteShot, and what types of other games are developed for it, if successfully funded on Kickstarter. Conceivably the possibilities are endless. Other than games that involve weapons, there could even be sports games, where developers create some sort of 3D printable accessory that could turn the Lyter into a hockey stick or baseball bat, or virtually anything else that they can think up.
The idea of 3D printing could make this mobile gaming application quite unique, allowing gamers to modify their weapons and fully customize them for their own unique gaming experience.
What do you think about LyteShot? Have you backed them on Kickstarter? Discuss in the LyteShot forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video below.
